riki.nishimura → twelve weeks

47

CHA YEOJIN POV

ONE MONTH LATER

"What? You didn't think I'd quit after you did?" Aera laughed, taking a swig of soju.

We were sat at a grill restaurant, frying up some pork and beef. After hearing about my arrival back in Seoul, a few of us from my old workplace decided that we should all meet up for drinks.

"I never thought you'd have the balls to do so." I shrugged, giving a light smile as I drank the rest of my soju.

Over the recent days, I felt more dependant on alcohol, and it was weird noticing how I rarely woke up remembering what I did last night.

"Well guess what, I did. I give up, I refused to work under that psycho any longer. Pfft." Aera flicked her hair behind her shoulder, giving a bright smile as her cheeks turned pink.

"I bet Eunji is sucking up to Seungmin considering she's like the last three employees that stayed." Jinyoung chuckled, sizzling some beef on the grill.

"God, I'm so glad I'm not there anymore." I was on my second bottle of Soju, slowly beginning to slur my words and lose focus on the things around me.

"Ooh, what a cute bracelet, where'd you get it from?" Yunhee, my old coworker, asked me, leaning over to look at the bracelet I bought with Niki.

I stared at the bracelet, my smile fading as I retraced the memories of us. I tried my hardest to forget about him, but every time I walked along the streets and saw a tall guy, with blonde hair, I'd almost run just to see his face, incase it was Niki.

Or whenever I passed by an advertisement for Jeju, I'd think back to the times with us. It was crazy, how a few weeks could impact the brain like that.

It often made me wonder how he was getting along, was he furious at me? Maybe he even hates me now and won't ever forgive me, or maybe he's depressed.

It doesn't seem like Niki to be remotely sad though. I'm sure he's doing well, I hope he's doing well anyways.

Instead of responding to Yunhee, I just took another large swig of soju, swallowing the fruity yet bitter taste down my throat.

Jinyoung glanced at me, worried, but he didn't say anything, instead, placed some grilled beef on my plate and continued with the conversation going on.

Despite the friendliness and the lively atmosphere being with friends, I just couldn't bare it in my heart anymore. I was here more or less for the alcohol, not really in the spirit for any friendly conversation or matter of fact, interaction at all.

After around half an hour, three and a half bottles of soju were around me. I leant my head on my palm, fluttering my eyes shut occasionally. Half the things around me were blurs, and the voices around me, I could barely decipher.

"Someone take the alcohol off Yeojin before she turns into a hospital trip." Jinyoung gave a small chuckle, trying to make his comment come off lighthearted and funny. But really, you could tell he was concerned about me.

"For real, I haven't seen her ever drink this much. She used to be against soju, saying it was a waste of money. I guess going away to Jeju made her change her mind." Aera giggled, amused at how much I could tolerate the alcohol before completely passing out.

At the mention of Jeju, I raised my hand to pick up the green bottle, drinking the last drop of the bottle. I gave a small groan, then followed by a larger sigh as they all looked at me.

"How was Jeju anyways? You never told us." Wonsik asked, silence fell upon the table as they waited for me to respond.

"Jeju? .... Jeju was.... Jeju." I shrugged, barely even able to hold my head up alone.

The four of them laughed, talking amongst themselves some more and laughing together. After a while of feeling like shit, and like a complete anomaly, I stood up, stumbling and wobbling for a second before even gaining a few seconds of balance.

"I'm going home.." I hiccuped, "Bye guys."

I waddled off, occasionally bumping into small decorations and clinging onto solid structures for support. As I was about to leave, Jinyoung ran up to me, grabbing my arm and placing it over his shoulder.

"Shiit, you've drank alot, I'll take you home Yeojin." Jinyoung insisted, before I could even say anything, he walked me out, into the breeze of Autumn air.

It was a mix between cold, winter air, but also a hint of salty ocean breeze. The few sweeps of warm, beachy air brought me back to Jeju for a slight second.

All this reminiscing of Jeju made me truly wonder whether I made the right decision or not.